Another Government Shutdown?

Could another government shutdown be coming soon? The present fiscal year ends on September 30th and Congress has not passed a budget so it must appropiate spending by continuing resolutions. The Republican leadership was caught off balance when 48 GOP Representatives revolted, demanding deeper spending cuts. The vote failed 195 to 230. When Democrats saw the Republican defections many of them, wanting more money for FEMA, also voted no.

"Washington needs to break the habit of spending money it does not have," said freshman Rep. Tim Huelskamp.

"This level of spending is far from meeting the goal we set for ourselves before coming to Washington last November," Huelskamp added, voicing the frustration of Tea Party lawmakers that spending has hardly gone down overall.

Congress is scheduled to be out next week on break, so the House and Senate must hammer out a deal before lawmakers can leave town until early October. Read more here.